A limited number of $1000 Awards are available for STEM students to assist with development of the International Field Research (IFR) program in Switzerland in June 2013. The 2013 IFR program includes a preparatory class in the Spring 2013 semester and a week in Switzerland in June.

To apply for the $1000 awards, you will need to submit an application by January 8, 2013. Follow the link below for the application and more information about the program.

For questions about the $1000 awards, contact Ms. Cathy McDonnell cat@umbc.edu.

(from the Undergraduate Research myUMBC Group)

Post-Sandy damage in Union Beach, New Jersey on November 12, 2012. Courtesy of CNS/Eric Thayer.

Where do you go to check the weather?

The Bible?

According to a recent survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, approximately 36% of Americans believe that the recent natural disasters and weather scares (i.e. Hurricane Sandy) align with Biblical prophecies about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The statistic is interesting — that’s one-third of the United States’ population, considering that the poll’s sample included 1,018 people. But with a closer look, we find a deep denominational divide:

A majority of white mainline Protestants (65 percent) and Catholics (60 percent) believe the disasters are the result of climate change, while nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of white evangelical Protestants believe the storms are evidence that we are in Biblical ‘end times.’

More data shows even starker differences between Christians and those who are non-religious. About 69% of unaffiliated Americans connect the changing weather patterns to climate change, as compared to 60% of Catholics and 50% of white evangelicals.

In the words of research director Daniel Cox,

They’re experiencing the same weather, but how they perceive it is very different.

Many of those who trace the weather patterns to the end of the world also think that global warming advocacy and activism is useless if “the end of the world” is near. This opinion is not petty — as Cox continued,

It’s hardly a fringe belief. It’s nearly four in 10 Americans who are embracing this.

Do you think theological beliefs should influence decision-making in public policy? Or is it irresponsible for people to remain stagnant because they associate scientific weather patterns to a religious figure?

Worst lie the year? Ouch. Considering all the misuses of the truth this year this by no means is an honor.
The website PolitiFact awarded its 4^th annual “Lie of the Year” honor to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s. His claim saturated political ad market in Ohio stating that Chrysler planned to move Jeep production to China thanks to President Obama.

Romney addresses the issues back in October when he stated:

I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep—now owned by the Italians—is thinking of moving all production to China.

 In the year’s realm of political campaigns, and rhetoric, was this in your opinion that worst lie of the year?

Old Stories, New Media

It’s something grade school teachers know intuitively: kids like reading about other kids.

So when a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History
program brought together Anne Arundel County Public School teachers, Historic London Town and
Gardens and UMBC’s Center for History Education, the group came up with an idea: what if the teachers
researched and wrote about children who actually lived at the historic site?

The rest, literally, was history. The result: Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town: The Stories of Three
Families, a digital storybook and interactive website that is a resource for educators.

“None of us imagined that it would be what it became,” said Lisa Robbins, the director of education at
London Town. “We’re all so proud of and blown away by the finished product.”

Although the CHE has a track record of successful partnerships with teachers, this project was uniquely
ambitious. The research itself was particularly challenging; children’s history is an emerging field, and
there is still relatively little written about the lives of children.

“We decided from the beginning that we wanted to write about real kids, which was problematic
because the records are much better about white kids than they are about African American children.
We know they were there, but we have very little detail about them,” said Marjoleine Kars, chair of
history, who worked with the teachers.

With the help of Robbins and Kars, the teachers did research both on site at London Town and
elsewhere, including with original sources at the Maryland State Archives. They discovered three stories
from the colonial period: the children of the Holland Pierpoint family helped to operate the family
business in 1709; Hannah, a married 15-year-old, looked after her siblings when her parents moved to
Maderia in 1739; and Jacob was a seven-year-old slave in 1762.

While Kars and Robbins helped with the research and direction, the teachers wrote the stories,
integrating information connected to what students are learning in other subjects and making sure
they aligned with Maryland’s new Common Core Standards. They also peppered them with details
they knew would be uniquely fascinating to their fourth and fifth grade students – bedbugs make an
appearance.

“This really changes the paradigm for delivering instruction in an elementary classroom,” said Terry
Poisson, coordinator of social studies for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. “It’s like a gift you didn’t
know you needed.”

The teachers’ original goal was to produce a printed book that they could keep in their classrooms,
but the Center for History Education’s partnership with UMBC’s New Media studio helped them
make the materials more widely available through an interactive website. “The website enabled us to
reach groups like families, homeschoolers, and girl and boy scouts,” said Rachel Brubaker, program
administrator for the Center for History Education. It also allowed them to add expanded content and
include interactive materials such as a glossary, map and timeline.

“Several of the teachers have taught with it, and they are so excited,” said Brubaker. “Their kids
really seem to grasp the story.” Even though it’s already being used in the classroom, the project
isn’t complete yet: an e-book and printed version are in the works, and London Town is interested in
integrating the stories into tours and field trips.

The partners are looking forward to seeing the finished product, but the project’s end is bittersweet
because the Teaching American History grant program has ended. Brubaker is hopeful that the success
of Children’s Lives at Colonial London Town, which won the 2012 Social Studies Program of Excellence
Award from the Middle States Regional Council for the Social Studies, will help the CHE to find a way to
continue working on similar projects.

“This project,” she said, “gives us a legacy and credibility that we can do this kind of work really well
with community partners.”

(12/14/12)